Some $7 billion in the upcoming 2020 national budget has been earmarked for COVID-19 assistance nationwide, according to President Irfaan Ali, who says that government is moving to improve the country’s response to the pandemic.
Ali, who announced a $25,000 direct cash transfer for households as part of government’s COVID-19 relief efforts, reported that an increase in the number of cases which has been observed over the last month does not indicate that the problem is “getting larger.” Instead, he told a news conference that it means that the systems put in place are now producing the results of the input that the government has put in place. However, when asked about the measures being taken to address the significant increase in deaths that has occurred over the past month, Ali did not respond directly to the question.
Additionally, Ali said in dealing with the output of the system, the government had to make “quick investments” in the controversial Infectious Disease Hospital at Liliendaal to equip it as he admitted that cross-contamination was taking place at the transition facility which was set up at the Georgetown Public Hospital. Further, he mentioned that a special medical group has been set up to handle the medical aspect of the pandemic and he is being advised by that group daily as to what is taking place and how the government can help.
Ali, who also announced that frontline workers will also benefit from some $150 million which has been set aside in the budget, pointed out that just days before his administration assumed office, the number of cases were increasing. He added that currently testing capacity has increased to where some 500% more testing is being done than before. “We were testing between 40 [and] 60 per day. We’re testing some days 250 now,” he said.
Further, he noted that even as a more aggressive approach has been undertaken, a number of other issues need to be addressed.
“We have 29 new ventilators already in country, [and] 16 more [are] coming, 40,000 test kits. All that the last government did was to spend billions of dollars on the Liliendaal facility that cannot be used,” the president said while adding that the facility was without basic amenities that every hospital or health facility should have and that has now been addressed.
He boasted that all of those issues have been fixed in one month while adding that his government is also addressing the economic and social consequences of the pandemic. However, he said that the pandemic is not an easy public health issue based given that it has health, social and economic implications. “What we have done in the last month is tremendous in terms of this pandemic. Are you going to get more positive cases? Of course, you have a backlog of a thousand,” he explained, while adding that an average of 300 persons are now turning up to be tested.
